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Working from home can be noisy, we get it! Our "no apologies needed" Zoom policy is perfect for every dog bark, crying child, background blender, and all other distractions. What are some other great WFH strategies you've seen? 🤔 📷: The Pet Collective via YouTube
The long weekend is here! Or rather, it is for us at Rakuten Kobo — extra long, long weekends all summer long are just one of the many perks of working with us. While many of us are staying close(er) to home this year, we're not checking emails so don't bother trying. How are you spending your long weekend?
Our annual summer party picnic looked a little different this year at Rakuten Kobo. Instead of our traditional softball tournament, followed by a celebratory outdoor picnic, we gave all of our employees globally a day off to enjoy a special Kobo Family Day. What did this look like exactly? Well-deserved time off for our employees to relax in a socially safe way with friends, family and loved ones, while enjoying food and drinks on us!
While the full Rakuten Kobo team won't be back in the office anytime soon, we're focused on creating safe, functional and enjoyable workspaces for when we can. Social distancing needs to be part of our office layout and we want to do that in a way that aligns with our corporate culture. Thankfully, our brilliant head of facilities came up with a solution - keeping us safely apart beautifully with living, thriving plants. "With the Kobo Gardens, we wanted to create a space that is warm and welcoming. We're making sure that all the mandatory measures are in place, but still want an environment that fits Kobo's culture regardless of the new layout - so employees can feel comfortable and enjoy the space." - Sally Mansingh, Executive Assistant and Facilities Lead, Rakuten Kobo.
How has Kobo adjusted to remote hiring? To start, all interview sessions are done remotely via Zoom, which allows us to accommodate candidate schedules. Interviews which were previously 2 - 3 hours in the office can now be spread out throughout the day to make time for breaks. We’ve also been using Codeshare and Coderpad, which allows us to use “virtual” whiteboards for technical testing. In addition to our remote interviewing, we’ve also been attending virtual networking sessions to stay connected with job seekers in the market. We recently attended a virtual Diverse IT hiring event through Women Hack that was a huge success! Lastly, working remotely hasn’t stopped us from providing an excellent onboarding experience for our new hires. All new hires receive their equipment and Kobo eReader in the mail prior to their start date, as well as an On The Job training schedule for their first week. Interested in joining our team? Click on the image below to be directed to our current job openings.
How Kobo is adjusting to remote hiring: - Remote Interview Sessions: All interview sessions are done remotely via Zoom, which allows us to accommodate candidate schedules. Interviews which were previously 2 - 3 hours in the office can now be spread out throughout the day to make time for breaks. - Remote Technical Testing: We’ve been using Codeshare and Coderpad, which allow us to use “virtual” whiteboards for technical testing. - Remote Networking: We’ve been attending remote networking sessions to stay connected with job seekers in the market. We recently attended a virtual Diverse IT hiring event through Women Hack that was a huge success! - Remote Onboarding: Working remotely hasn’t stopped us from providing an excellent onboarding experience for our new hires. All new hires receive their equipment and Kobo eReader in the mail prior to their start date, as well as an On The Job training schedule for their first week. - Interested in joining our team? Click on the image below to be directed to our current job openings.
How Kobo is adjusting to remote hiring: •Remote Interview Sessions: All interview sessions are done remotely via Zoom, which allows us to accommodate candidate schedules. Interviews which were previously 2 - 3 hours in the office can now be spread out throughout the day to make time for breaks. •Remote Technical Testing: We’ve been using Codeshare and Coderpad, which allow us to use “virtual” whiteboards for technical testing. •Remote Networking: We’ve been attending remote networking sessions to stay connected with job seekers in the market. We recently attended a virtual Diverse IT hiring event through Women Hack that was a huge success! •Remote Onboarding: Working remotely hasn’t stopped us from providing an excellent onboarding experience for our new hires. All new hires receive their equipment and Kobo eReader in the mail prior to their start date, as well as an On The Job training schedule for their first week. •Interested in joining our team? Click on the image below to be directed to our current job openings.
We're giving staff the option of staying remote/WFH for the rest of 2020 in our Toronto, Dublin, Darmstadt & Taipei offices.
How has Rakuten Kobo supported its employees during COVID-19? In many ways! Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been proactive in taking steps to ensure our people are safe and supplied with all the resources they need from a work perspective. This includes: • Closing our offices and shifting to remote working ahead of the formal government mandate • Interactive webinars to help our employees adjust to the new challenges that come with working from home • Anonymous pulse check surveys to see how our employees are doing and ensure they have the resources they need • A mental health Slack channel where employees share resources and tips • Regularly sharing resources from our global parent company, Rakuten, to connect our employees with organizations focused on mental and physical health, along with self-interest and personal training. • We’ve also launched a global #StayHomeAndRead campaign, offering a range of free, discounted and curated book lists to readers around the world. To date, we’ve given away over 10 million free books!
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when producing a new eReader? Christine Munroe sat down with Ramesh Mantha on the Kobo Writing Life podcast to get some insight into the process behind creating our latest device: Forma! You can listen here: http://glassdoor.com/slink.htm?key=vQSlb And buy the device here: http://glassdoor.com/slink.htm?key=vQSlo #GoKobo
